Dave Cameron of FanGraphs believes Detroit Tigers right-hander Rick Porcello is an excellent candidate to have a breakout season in 2013.

In a column over the weekend on ESPN.com (warning: you need an Insider subscription to read the entire story here), Cameron looked at three players who are eligible for arbitration who could be traded and have solid seasons in 2013 for their new teams.

Porcello was first on his list.

"He set career highs in both strikeout rate and ground ball rate in 2012," Cameron wrote,
"but even more encouragingly, his velocity jumped nearly 2 mph, and he
was regularly topping out at 95 for the first time as a big leaguer."

Porcello went 10-12 with a 4.59 ERA for the Tigers, but Cameron blamed the Tigers' defense in part for his lack of success. Porcello finished the 2012 season with a career-high 107 strikeouts and had his lowest ERA since his rookie season in 2009, but he also had a career-high 1.531 WHIP.

At this point, Porcello seems extremely likely to open the season in the rotation for the Tigers, unless they are able to re-sign free-agent right-hander Anibal Sanchez. If the Tigers do sign Sanchez, they could decide to trade Porcello and use left-hander Drew Smyly as their fifth starter.

Porcello is eligible for arbitration and will likely get a decent raise from the $3.1 million he made last season. If the Tigers re-sign Sanchez, trading Porcello would help offset some of the money it would cost them for Sanchez.